Assessing the Effects of COVID-19 on Accommodations Availabilities and Prices
Abstract
In 2020, a new pandemic, named COVID-19, has been spreading all over the world, causing a reduction in activities, including in the tourism sector. This paper tries to quantify the effects of COVID-19 on accommodations, with a particular focus on prices trend and accommodation availability. Experiments simulated more than 400 accommodation bookings over the period of time before, during, and after the wave of the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The analysis was done for the city of Pisa, but it could be generalized to all the other cities, provided that there is an availability of data. The typology with the highest drop in availability was that of 2-star hotels, with a maximum decrease of 66%. Even the 4 and 3-star hotels were clearly affected by the pandemic, recording maximum drops of 36% for 4-star hotels and 25% for 3-star hotels. Regarding the analysis of prices trend, the categories most affected by the pandemic were hotels, hostels, and tourist villages, which recorded significant price increases. The major novelty of this paper involves the definition of a strategy, which can be used to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on accommodations, as well as the release of the DOTApy software for the extraction of data.
Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-03-07
Full Text: PDF
Keywords
References
Rothan, H. A., & Byrareddy, S. N. (2020). The epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Journal of Autoimmunity, 109, 102433. doi:10.1016/j.jaut.2020.102433.
Chinazzi, M., Davis, J. T., Ajelli, M., Gioannini, C., Litvinova, M., Merler, S., … Vespignani, A. (2020). The effect of travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Science, 368(6489), 395–400. doi:10.1126/science.aba9757.
Suau-Sanchez, P., Voltes-Dorta, A., & Cugueró-Escofet, N. (2020). An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it? Journal of Transport Geography, 86, 102749. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102749.
Gerwe, O. (2021). The Covid-19 pandemic and the accommodation sharing sector: Effects and prospects for recovery. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 167, 120733. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120733.
Jang, S., Kim, J., Kim, J., & Kim, S. (Sam). (2021). Spatial and experimental analysis of peer-to-peer accommodation consumption during COVID-19. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 20, 100563. doi:10.1016/j.jdmm.2021.100563.
Giannettoni, M., Marchetti, A. Lo Duca, A. (2020). DotaPy: Using Python Selenium to Extract Information and Prices Trends from Online Travel Agencies. Technical Report. Available online: https://www-old.iit.cnr.it/en/node/58840 (accessed on September 2020).
Chang, C., & Li, S. (2021). Study of Price Determinants of Sharing Economy-Based Accommodation Services: Evidence from Airbnb.com. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(4), 584–601. doi:10.3390/jtaer16040035.
Voltes-Dorta, A., & Sánchez-Medina, A. (2020). Drivers of Airbnb prices according to property/room type, season and location: A regression approach. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 45, 266-275. doi:10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.08.015
Vives, A., Jacob, M., & Aguiló, E. (2018). Online hotel demand model and own-price elasticities: An empirical application in a mature resort destination. Tourism Economics, 25(5), 670–694. doi:10.1177/1354816618800643.
Guizzardi, A., Pons, F. M. E., & Ranieri, E. (2017). Advance booking and hotel price variability online: Any opportunity for business customers? International Journal of Hospitality Management, 64, 85–93. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.05.002.
Mohammed, I., Guillet, B. D., Law, R., & Rahaman, W. A. (2020). Predicting the direction of dynamic price adjustment in the Hong Kong hotel industry. Tourism Economics, 27(2), 346–364. doi:10.1177/1354816620903900.
Sun, S., Law, R., & Tse, T. (2015). Exploring price fluctuations across different online travel agencies: A case study of room reservations in an upscale hotel in Hong Kong. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 22(2), 167–178. doi:10.1177/1356766715592663.
Chang, S. E., Hsieh, Y.-J., Chen, C.-W., Liao, C.-K., & Wang, S.-T. (2006). Location-Based Services for Tourism Industry: An Empirical Study. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1144–1153. doi:10.1007/11833529_115.
Suárez-Vega, R., & Hernández, J. M. (2020). Selecting Prices Determinants and Including Spatial Effects in Peer-to-Peer Accommodation. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 9(4), 259. doi:10.3390/ijgi9040259.
Masiero, L., Yang, Y., & Qiu, R. T. R. (2019). Understanding hotel location preference of customers: Comparing random utility and random regret decision rules. Tourism Management, 73, 83–93. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2018.12.002.
Napierała, T. (2017). Internetization of selling hotel rooms in metropolitan area of Łódź (Poland). Journal of Geography, Politics and Society, 7(3), 19-30.
Urtasun, A., & Gutiérrez, I. (2006). Tourism agglomeration and its impact on social welfare: An empirical approach to the Spanish case. Tourism Management, 27(5), 901–912. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2005.05.004.
Kim, J., Jang, S., Kang, S., & Kim, S. (James). (2020). Why are hotel room prices different? Exploring spatially varying relationships between room price and hotel attributes. Journal of Business Research, 107, 118–129. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.09.006.
Sánchez-Pérez, M., Illescas-Manzano, M. D., & Martínez-Puertas, S. (2019). Modeling hotel room pricing: A multi-country analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 79, 89–99. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.12.014.
Nakamura, Y., & Oomiya, N. (2020). An analytical examination of accommodation sales and the importance of electronic “word-of-mouth” appraisals via internet travel sites. Journal of Global Tourism Research, 5(1), 43–50. doi:10.37020/jgtr.5.1_43.
Kościółek, S. (2017). Role of e-WOM in hospitality market pricing. Journal of Economics & Management, 29, 58-74.
Abrate, G., & Viglia, G. (2016). Strategic and tactical price decisions in hotel revenue management. Tourism Management, 55, 123–132. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2016.02.006.
Phillips, P., Barnes, S., Zigan, K., & Schegg, R. (2016). Understanding the Impact of Online Reviews on Hotel Performance. Journal of Travel Research, 56(2), 235–249. doi:10.1177/0047287516636481.
Kim, B., Kim, S., & Heo, C. Y. (2016). Analysis of satisfiers and dissatisfiers in online hotel reviews on social media. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(9), 1915–1936. doi:10.1108/ijchm-04-2015-0177.
Sánchez-Franco, M. J., Navarro-García, A., & Rondán-Cataluña, F. J. (2019). A naive Bayes strategy for classifying customer satisfaction: A study based on online reviews of hospitality services. Journal of Business Research, 101, 499–506. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.051.
Chan, I. C. C., Lam, L. W., Chow, C. W. C., Fong, L. H. N., & Law, R. (2017). The effect of online reviews on hotel booking intention: The role of reader-reviewer similarity. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 66, 54–65. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.06.007.
Öğüt, H., & Onur Taş, B. K. (2012). The influence of internet customer reviews on the online sales and prices in hotel industry. The Service Industries Journal, 32(2), 197–214. doi:10.1080/02642069.2010.529436.
Pawlicz, A., & Napierala, T. (2017). The determinants of hotel room rates: an analysis of the hotel industry in Warsaw, Poland. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(1), 571–588. doi:10.1108/ijchm-12-2015-0694.
Yang, Y., Mueller, N. J., & Croes, R. R. (2016). Market accessibility and hotel prices in the Caribbean: The moderating effect of quality-signaling factors. Tourism Management, 56, 40–51. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.021.
Gazzetta Ufficiale (2020). “Misure urgenti per fronteggiare l’emergenza epidemiologica da COVID-19”. Available online: https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2020/03/25/20G00035/sg (accessed on November 2020).
National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). (2020). Tourism and Covid-19. Available online: https://www.istat.it/it/files/2020/04/ STATISTICATODAY_TURISMO.pdf (accessed on September 2020).
DOI: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-03-07
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2021 Matteo Giannettoni, Angelica Lo Duca, Andrea Marchetti
